The flag of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was officially adopted by the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1940. It showed a set of

Communist symbols Communist symbolism represents a variety of themes, including revolution, the proletariat, peasantry, agriculture, or international solidarity. Communist states, parties and movements use these symbols to advance and create solidarity within t ...

: a yellow

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

on a red field and, after official change of the flag's design in 1953, also an outlined yellow star, above a band of water waves near the bottom.

History

After the Soviet invasion and occupation of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

in June 1940, the country was annexed to, and became an administrative subdivision of, the USSR under the name "Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic" in August 1940. After 31 October 1940, a Soviet Union flag with

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

script ''ENSV'' replacing the star above the hammer and sickle, was officially used by the Soviet authorities in the Estonian SSR. On 6 February 1953, a new version of the flag was adopted. It too followed the style of the flag of the Soviet Union, with six spiky blue and white wavy stripes added to the bottom. During the period of foreign rule in 1940–1991, the Estonian diaspora and

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

around the world continued to use the national flag of Estonia, whereas the use of the national tricolour and its blue, black and white colour combination was banned and punishable by law in the Soviet Union until 1988. On 20 October 1988, the usage of the blue-black-white flag was officially allowed again by Estonian authorities. On the evening of 23 February 1989 the Soviet flag was taken down permanently from the tower of

Pikk Hermann Pikk Hermann or Tall Hermann (german: Langer Hermann) is a tower of the Toompea Castle, on Toompea hill in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The first part was built 1360–70. It was rebuilt (height brought to ) in the 16th century. A staircase ...

of the

Toompea Castle Toompea castle ( et, Toompea loss) is a medieval castle on Toompea hill in the central part of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. In modern times, it houses the Parliament of Estonia. History The Toompea castle's predecessor, an ancient Estonian ...

. It was replaced with the national blue-black-white flag on the next morning, 24 February, upon the 70th anniversary of the

Estonian Declaration of Independence __NOTOC__ The Estonian Declaration of Independence, also known as the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia ( et, Manifest Eestimaa rahvastele), is the founding act of the Republic of Estonia from 1918. It is celebrated on 24 February, the Natio ...

. With the ''Act on symbols of Estonia'', passed on 8 May 1990, a year before Estonia regained full independence in 1991, the use of the Estonian SSR flag and

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...

as state symbols was officially discontinued.

Notes

{{Flags of the Soviet Republics

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic

Soviet Socialist Republic The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

de:Flagge Estlands#Geschichte

History

See also

Notes